It’s Playoff Time In Kansas City, Life is Good Again

I’m not going to dwell on the Oakland game. That was then, this now. That game is in the rear-view mirror, as it must be.

I went over it in article I wrote on a different website. I give all the props to the Raiders for out-playing the Chiefs in every phase of the game. They deserved to win. They looked like the playoff team ; not the Chiefs.

They are, however, not the AFC West Champions, the KC Chiefs are.

I can come up with only one consolation for myself following the Raiders game. The Chiefs have had three bad losses this year—at San Diego, Denver and against the Raiders. After the first two losses, they responded very well the following week. This would be a really good time to continue that trend.

Maybe it’s just this one game, maybe they get by Baltimore and manage two. The point is, they’re back in the playoffs and this is only the beginning for a talented, well coached young football team.

The last time the Chiefs were in the playoffs was 2006. Herm Edwards took the last remnants of Dick Vermiel’s leftovers, limped into Indianapolis and got slapped by the eventual world champs.

There are striking differences between the 2006 and 2010 Chiefs.

Even with a new coach, Herm Edwards, most knowledgeable fans knew they were on the decline. The offensive line was gone, Trent Green was gone, Larry Johnson was about to be run into the ground and get arrested for mauling most of the women in KC.

Everyone knew that Carl Peterson was on his last legs as well. The “King” had been there, going on twenty years. He deserves tremendous credit for reviving the Chiefs when he came to KC, but it was time.

Then the most significant thing took place.

In December of 2006, the great Lamar Hunt passed away. It took Clark Hunt a couple of years to get his feet wet, but when he did he was the one that started building this current team.

Very simple: Peterson out, Pioli in.

The 2010 Chiefs, regardless of the outcome of the Baltimore game, are a team on the rise. They have a core of young talent on both sides of the ball, a great quarterback, a solid coaching staff and management that’s making sure the players stay in KC.

The whole Charlie Weis mess is terrible timing. I’ve already started reading rumors about he and Haley not getting along. This will lead to things being said about Haley, again.

Ignore it. Todd Haley deserved serious consideration for Coach of the Year. Oakland assured he wouldn’t get it, but his name will be on the list, rightfully.

Personally, I think Weis should go today and leave Haley and Sirianni to do the play calling for whatever games the Chiefs have left.

The Ravens are actually the last team I would have picked to come in to Kansas City. Even though that blow hard on the Jets has once again proclaimed his team the Super Bowl team, I would have preferred the Jets, or even the Steelers, over the Ravens.

Maybe that’s just because I picked Green Bay and Baltimore as the Super Bowl match up in the beginning of the year, which I might add, still can’t be ruled out.

The Ravens are very similar to the Chiefs on the offensive side of the ball. The Chiefs are slightly better in most categories, but there is no question the Ravens played teams far more difficult to score on.

The Chiefs will have to contain Ray Rice and pressure Joe Flacco. If they can do a consistent job of those two things, they will be able to stay in the game.

On the flip side, the Chiefs must stay out of third and long. They need to let Charles run. If they can manage that, then the play action pass becomes lethal and they have a solid chance of winning.

The Chiefs are going to have to play their best game of the season to have any chance of winning this game. The Ravens only lost four games this year. Two of those losses were by three points. The other two were by five points.

By the way, those four losses were to the Bengals, Patriots, Steelers and Falcons.

Yes, the Chiefs will need their “A” game. No matter, the regular season has ended and no matter what their schedule was, no matter how bad they got hammered in week 17, one things still remains.

The Kansas City Chiefs are still playing football this weekend, in Arrowhead Stadium and all Chief fans get one more week, or more, to cheer on their team.

This sure beats the last three years when the season ended sometime in late September.